Political Unrest In Sarawak

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 14

Political Unrest In Sarawak

The quarrel between the Malaysian Federal Government and the governing Sarawak Alliance in the large North Borneo territory seems to be following the pattern of dispute that led to the defection of Singapore from Malaysia in August of last year. The dismissal in June of Sarawak’s Chief Minister, Dato Stephen Ningkan, after complaints against him in Kuala Lumpur by members of opposition groups in the Sarawak State Assembly, had an unexpected sequel when Dato Ningkan decided to challenge the legality of the federal order. His case, argued on constitutional grounds in the Sarawak High Court by a distinguished London Queen’s Counsel, ended in a ruling that the dismissal order was invalid. Now it appears that the Federal Government is contemplating stronger action to enforce its authority. Intervention must be hazardous, however, regardless of what form it might take, because it would be unlikely to resolve the political deadlock and might present an opportunity to the underground Communist Party, said to have a hard core of some 2000 Chinese guerrillas, to assert its strength in Sarawak. Sarawak’s multi-racial population contains relatively few of the indigenous Malay people—about 137,000 out of a total of 780,000. The Chinese community numbers 243,000: and a strong non-Malay “ native ” population, dominated by the Ibans, takes an independent line in political matters. Dato Ningkan, a former school-teacher, has shown a capacity to work with the Chinese. He had their support in forming and winning the leadership of the ruling coalition. This close association with the Chinese is resented in Kuala Lumpur, as is also Dato Ningkan’s reliance on British advisers. Only some 200 British civil servants remain in Sarawak now—a minority group compared with the old colonial era—but the Finance Secretary and the State Secretary, who is the permanent head of the civil service, are both British, and remain in spite of federal pressure for their removal.

Political opinion in Kuching, the Sarawak capital, has been sharply divided over the Federal Government’s insistence on the “ Malayanisation ” of the civil service and the replacement of English by Malay as the official language. The change of language is not scheduled to take place until 1973: but it is an unpopular proposal, notwithstanding the federal argument that 90 per cent of the people can speak Malay. Dato Ningkan is clearly seen in Kuala Lumpur as opposing federal dominance and tending towards a broader independence for Sarawak. It is thought, indeed, that his own position might become considerably stronger as leader of a powerful coup of parties—including the United People’s party, which the mass of Sarawak’s Chinese support—capable of challenging federal interference on any grounds. Important constitutional issues are at stake in the open quarrel now developing between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching—issues which pending elections, federal and state, may resolve. Of greater urgency is the danger of racial disturbance in Sarawak resulting from any worsening of the political dispute. The federal leadership, w'hen the possibility of intervention in Sarawak is mentioned, must be aware of the need to handle the situation with extreme caution.